Rio 3
by Princess Goldenrod
Summary: Tragedy strikes in Jewel's life and the macaw tribes are forced to live in Rio De Janeiro after their home becomes inhospitable. Jewel and her family try to keep their mind off the tragedy by doing more humanly tasks around Rio but they eventually realize that they will not find closure until they track down who is responsible for fires in the Amazon. (Proofread by mikey1393drago.)
1. Prologue

**Author's note:** Just something I've been trying to think of a good story for a while. It might be a bit of a rough idea for the entire plot right now but it'll last longer than Surf's Up 3 did that's for sure. I don't really have much else to say other than what songs are in this: "Beautiful Creatures" (from, well, Rio 2), "C'mon" by Kesha (since I needed something with rapping and nothing by Hollywood Undead was what I needed so I looked back to music I used to listen to), and "Even in Death" by Evanescence (for reasons I won't spoil here, it will be made clear enough by the end of this chapter).

* * *

 **Prologue**

An isolated but beautiful basin somewhere in the Amazon Rainforest is the home of a tribe of the once thought to be nearly extinct Blue Spix's Macaw. Once completely hidden from the human world, this basin is now a federally protected nature reserve with officials from the Brazilian government living on the reserve to guard the macaws from poachers, smugglers, loggers, and of course natural predators.

A chorus of singing voices carries on through the basin, Portuguese words reaching every creature's ears. All non-Avian residents of the protected basin, except for a slot that can never stay away more than ten seconds at any given time, stop what they are doing to watch and listen to the Spix's macaws' celebration. This may be a common occurrence, but they never grow tired of the Spix's macaw tribe's performance.

 _Let's celebrate_

 _Calling all beautiful creatures_

 _Come spread your wings_

 _Dance and sing songs about freedom_

 _Like la-la-la, ooh-ooh_

 _One for the jungle família_

 _Like ba-ba-ba, boom-boom_

 _Calling all beautiful creatures_

 _Come this way, celebrate_

 _Laugh and dance all the way_

 _Follow me, sing along_

 _La-la-la-la, ooh-ooh_

 _Let's celebrate_

 _Calling all beautiful creatures_

 _Come spread your wings_

 _Dance and sing songs about freedom_

 _Like la-la-la, ooh-ooh_

 _One for the jungle família_

 _Like ba-ba-ba, boom-boom_

 _Calling all beautiful creatures_

Blurs of bright reds and yellows among the flurry of equally bright blue feathers suddenly stop with the singing. During celebrations such as this, it is the female macaws that have colored portions of their feathers yellow with pollen and fruit juice, while it is the males who have done the same but with red pollen and fruit juice. This display is part of an old Spix's macaw tradition.

One of these male macaws, who helped save this entire tribe from illegal loggers, named Blu, dips his wife Jewel over his right wing and kisses her in mid air, much to the embarrassment of their three children, Bia, Carla, and Tiago.

"Oh, dad!" Tiago, the youngest and only brother, exclaims. He feels his face becoming hot underneath all his feathers.

"You'll always be my one and only Blu," Jewel coos romantically. "Kiss me again, baby!" She drags her husband in for another kiss as they somehow continue to stay in flight.

"MOM!" Bia, Carla, and Tiago cry out in embarrassed unison.

"I vote we go find Roberto," Carla suggests. "He's still single…"

"I don't think so…" Bia interrupts her older sister. "Look over there!"

"Shake that blue-tiful tail on over here Beto!" a female voice with a thick Portuguese accent calls out rather flirtatiously.

"Who is that?" Tiago accidentally says out loud.

"On my way, baby!"

"Roberto!" Carla calls out to their mother's childhood friend.

"Oh, hi Carla!"

"Oh, Beto!"

This time, the siblings ask Roberto in unison: "Who is that?"

"This is my new girl, Autumn." Roberto brings the girl macaw in close with his right wing as they all perch on a branch over the basin. He and Autumn stare lovingly into each other's eyes. "You can say it was love at first sight for the both of us. Ain't that right, Autumn?"

"You bet baby!" Autumn exclaims energetically, and subsequently smacks Roberto on the rear with her right wing.

Roberto screeches cheerfully in the way only a Spix's macaw can screech. "Darn I love it when she does that! Come here, babe!"

Roberto pulls Autumn over his wing so they can kiss as Bia, Carla, and Tiago only stare wide-eyed at each other, then to Roberto and Autumn, and then each other again.

When he looks up, Roberto gasps upon realizing his and Autumn's flirty behavior is not exactly appropriate for young macaw eyes and ears. "Oh." He pauses. "Sorry kids!"

Autumn begins scatting a rhythmic beat and then, just as suddenly, she begins rapping so fast that Bia, Carla, and Tiago can barely keep up with her words. Robert, however, becomes googly-eyed at his girl's rapping ability she had never talked about before. Rapping was anything but Roberto's preferred style of singing but he would definitely make an exception for Autumn's rapping; it's so unique from that one ground sloth who tried auditioning for Nico and Pedro's show at the Carnaval last December.

 _Feelin' like I'm a high flier_

 _Bitin' on a nice papaya_

 _Hot 'cause the party don't stop_

 _I'm in my short feathers_

 _Like I'm with all my gatherers_

 _We been keeping it PG_

 _But I wanna get a little frisky_

 _Come gimme some of that yum like a mango_

 _Let me set you free_

 _Feelin' like a liger_

 _Slurpin' up some juicy papaya_

 _Touch me and give me that rush_

 _Better pack some brazil nuts_

 _Gonna fill up my guts_

 _We been keepin' it kosher_

 _But I wanna get it on for sure_

 _Come gimme some of that yum like a mango_

 _Baby don't be scared_

"Oh my Chica. I am drawn to this ability I never even knew you had. You kept me in suspense all this time." Roberto follows this declaration with a unique move, spinning Autumn around and dips her over his wing much like Blu had done with Jewel several yards from here. Autumn strokes the longest feather on her right wing down Roberto's beak and chest before he releases her.

"And finding Roberto was supposed to be a good idea?" Tiago deadpans, much like how Carla would have.

"They're acting just like Mom and Dad!" Bia adds.

"Hey, hey!" Carla says. "How was I supposed to know Roberto has a girlfriend now?!"

* * *

"Okay my sexy love hawk," Jewel says to her husband. "Where did our three bundles of joy fly off to now?"

Blu stammers. "Uh, I-I heard Bia say something about going to see Roberto."

Jewel sighs with relief. "Oh, good. I thought Tiago has led them on a hunt for trouble again. You still remember his 'piranha taunting' idea?" Jewel asks as she and Blu perch on the branch of a Brazil Nut tree.

Blu nervously looks at his tail; a few of its feathers are still missing or chewed off. He loudly clears his throat. "I…um…would rather forget that morning. My tail would too…"

Jewel remains unnervingly quiet, much to Blu's concern.

"Jewel?" he asks.

Jewel responds in a shaky whisper. "Something seems really off about the air all of a sudden." She pauses. "I just can't put a talon on why…"

Blu sniffs the air too. "It smells fine to me."

As if they came out of nowhere, Roberto and Autumn land on the branch just above where Jewel and Blu are perched.

"Is something wrong, Ju-Ju?" Roberto asks with the same hesitation Jewel spoke with. Nobody even realizes he used the nickname he gave Jewel when they were chicks.

"Oh, I don't know, Beto." Jewel passes. "Like I just told Blu, something smells different about the air now, but I can't place a talon on why. And Blu says it smells fine."

"It's not just you, Jewel," Autumn interrupts. "The air doesn't feel or smell right to me, either."

Jewel looks behind Roberto and Autumn, then quickly goes into a state of panic. "Beto!" she screeches. "Where are the kids?!"

"They were just behind Autumn and I…!" Roberto gasps.

The four Spix's macaws immediately take off from the branch, shouting as loud as they all can for the missing chicks.

"Bia!"

"Carla!"

"Tiago!"

"Kids!"

"KIDS!" Jewel screams at the top of her lungs, drawing the attention of the entire tribe. All the singing and dancing stops as a hundred forty pairs of blinking eyes turn to the source of the scream, especially the pair of eyes belonging to Jewel's father.

"What's going on?" Eduardo asks.

"Our kids are missing!" Jewel sobs. "Beto lost them!"

Roberto immediately chokes. "W-What?! How can you just pin this on me Ju-Ju?"

"You and Autumn are the last ones who saw them! You shouldn't have taken an eye off them!"

"Enough, Jewel," her father says as calmly as possible. "All this squabbling won't find your kids any faster."

The leader of the Scarlet macaw tribe, Felipe, suddenly flies by them all, crashing into the tree. He falls flat on his back, seeing stars and feeling as if the world is spinning. "Ow…" he groans.

"Felipe?!" Eduardo gasps. "What is the matter?"

Felipe sputters inaudibly until Jewel smacks him.

"Snap out of it!" Jewel shouts.

"FIRE!" Felipe screams. "A fire in the Pit of Doom and the wind is blowing it this way!" The Scarlet macaw is so panicked he forgets all about speaking with his typical rhyming pattern.

"And our kids are still out there!" Blu screeches.

Eduardo motions for his sister. "Mimi, I want you to lead the others out of here to the safe zone you and I discussed last week. Jewel, Blu, Roberts, Felipe, and I will look for the kids."

"We ain't going anywhere!" Pedro calls out.

"Where Jewel and Blu go, we go!" Rafael and Nico add in unison.

Jewel screeches her disagreement. "No! It's too dangerous," she protests. "You guys don't know these jungles like we do. For your own good, go with my aunt and the others. Please."

"Just don't do anything to get yourselves killed," Rafael says as he, Nico, and Pedro reluctantly fly away with the others. "Your kids need both of you."

Jewel and Blu take his words to heart, but she says nothing about it as she turns to the others. "I told you something was wrong with the air!" Jewel sobs as the five-macaw team flies towards where Roberto says he and Autumn last saw Bia, Carla, and Tiago.

"Are your kids always this much trouble for you?" Felipe asks.

"And so what if they are?!" Jewel and Blu bark at him.

Felipe immediately recoils, realizing his error.

"They could be in danger!" Roberto says.

"We need to find those kids before the fir—" Autumn begins.

"MOM! DAD!"

Jewel and Blu react immediately. "Kids?!"

"Their voices came from the Brazil Nut grove!" Felipe screeches.

"Let's go!" Eduardo orders as the four Spix's macaws zip past Felipe, who quickly catches up with them.

Roberto calls out from ahead of the others. "There they are! Come on!"

Spiraling downward like an owl does while on the hunt, the five macaws head to where Bia, Carla, and Tiago are hiding on a grassy cliffside as the fire burns all around them.

"It's mom and dad!" Bia cheers.

"And Uncle Roberto, Grandpa, and Felipe!" Carla adds.

"We're saved!" Tiago yells enthusiastically, raising his wings up in the air and waving at their saviors.

"Down here!" Bia cries. "We're down here!"

"I'll get them!" Roberto says.

"WAIT!" Blu screams.

A wall of flame shoots up from below, nearly taking Roberto with a nearby tree that was at the end of its natural life.

"Jewel!" Felipe gasps. "Don't! You saw what almost happened to Roberto!"

"I don't care!" Jewel attempts to strike him with her wing then flies in the direction of her kids. "We must save my kids!"

"But what will they do if you die trying to save them?" Eduardo shouts over the roar of the flames. "I love you Jewel, but you must use your brain in this kind of situation."

Jewel screeches to a halt in flight and turns to face her father. "I won't lose them!"

"Jewel! You can't act rashly like your mother did the day I lost you when the loggers destroyed our old home." Eduardo decides it's time Jewel knew the entire story of what happened to her mother on the day she was separated from them. "I lost her that way when she went looking for you. She was surrounded by the fire before anyone could save her…I don't want to lose you just to save my grandkids."

"But what do we do, Dad?" Jewel protests.

"What I wanted your mother to do before the wind turned against her," Eduardo says. "We cannot just fly right over the wall of flames. They'll keep shooting up every time we try and if we keep waiting for the perfect moment to fly through the wall, it will be too late to save the kids."

Felipe begins to panic much like how Roberto normally would have by now in this kind of situation. "Oh, just spit it out already Eddy!" he snaps. "You're wasting too much time!"

"We'll have to fly high and dive down into the ring of flames like we did to get this far!"

"Why didn't you just say that before instead of getting so dramatic about it?!" Felipe caws.

Roberto snaps. "Shut up Felipe!" He cuffs the Scarlet macaw on the head. "At least he has a plan! I say we go for it unless _you_ have a better idea!"

"Oh for crying out loud. Just stop all this arguing and fly _now_!"

The five macaws go upwards and, just as they did to get through the flames blocking the way to where they are now, dive downward into the ring of fire surrounding Bia, Carla, and Tiago.

"What are they doing?!" Carla screams.

"Mom!" Bia cries.

"We're coming kids!" Blu answers them.

Jewel's eyes become wide with horror when Tiago tries to move closer.

"Tiago get back!" she orders him.

Bia and Carla drag their little brother away from the edge just as the adults come close to where they are trapped, too afraid to fly over the ring of fire around them.

"I gotcha Carla!" Roberto says as he gently picks her up in his talons, as Jewel and Eduardo pick up Carla and Tiago.

"Why didn't Dad pick me up?" Tiago wonders aloud.

"Blu!" Jewel gasps.

Roberto cannot believe what he is seeing. "What is he doing?"

"Come on, Blu," Felipe says. "We need to go _now_. The fire's getting closer!"

"F-F-F-Fire…" Blu stammers. He begins screeching uncontrollably and running around on the small ledge in a panic.. "Fire!"

"Get him out of there, Felipe!" Jewel cries.

"How?!" Felipe shouts over the roar of the fire. "He's running around like a mad bird!"

"Just do whatever you have to to get him moving! Please!"

"Snap out of it bluebird!" Felipe slaps him over the head with a wing. "If you stay here you'll die!" He grabs Blu over the shoulders with his wings and begins shaking him

"Daddy!" Bia sobs. "You need to fly!"

 _Daddy?_ Blu thinks. _She hasn't called me that in a long time._

While barely realizing it at first, Blu takes flight. Felipe is quickly on Blu's tail after a wave of fire nearly takes the Scarlet macaw out.

"That's it Blu!" Roberto cheers.

"Yes!" Jewel could do a little dance of happiness in midair if she weren't carrying Carla in her talons. "Thank you Felipe!"

 _Nobody has ever thanked me for anything_ , Felipe thinks. _If only she knew the real reason I did what I did. I don't want her to go through what I did years ago._

"Oh no!" Eduardo gasps in terror.

"Felipe, watch out!" Roberto attempts to fly in to knock Felipe out of the way but he is too late. A smoldering branch knocks the Scarlet macaw halfway into unconsciousness and he begins plummeting towards the sea of flames.

In a mad dash, all the Spix's macaws begin diving after Felipe in an attempt to grab Felipe while Eduardo stays behind with Bia, Carla, and Tiago on one of the few trees that is away from the fire for the moment.

"Wake up Felipe!" Jewel screams. "You are falling!"

 _Uh…_ Felipe groans. He wants to flap his wings but he cannot feel anything besides the horrible pain in his back.

Jewel's eyes suddenly become wide with a fear she has not felt since she was barely grown past her fledgling days, when her tribe's old home was invaded by illegal loggers who chopped and burned down, when a blur of blue dives down after the plummeting Scarlet macaw.

"Hold on, Felipe!" Blu calls out. "I'm…almost…there…" His talons get hold of Felipe under each wing just in time. Any later and Felipe would have burned up in that sea of fire.

"Ugh," Felipe groans again. He shakes his head. "What? What is going on?"

"I just saved you!" Blu pants. "That branch knocked you off balance."

"I suppose I owe you one then," Felipe laughs weakly. He tries not to look at what could have been his fate several meters below.

"Do you think you can fly on your own?" Blu asks the still dizzy Scarlet macaw. "Or should I just carry you all the way?"

Felipe would normally criticize someone for wording a question so awkwardly but seeing as how Blu saved his life…

"I think I can fly," Felipe whispers.

Blu releases his grip on Felipe, who after a few seconds has control of his wings and is flying again, albeit not with much balance. He looks back at Blu. "Thank you."

"Hey, no need to thank me, I was just—"

"Blu watch out!"

Blu immediately finds himself being shoved out of the way by Felipe just as another burning branch falls.

"Consider us even," Felipe says. "Now let's get out of here before we get ourselves killed."

"Right. More flying, less talking," Blu stammers. He's only been that close to death one other time. "Got it…"

However, Blu seems to relax somewhat when he sees Jewel's beautiful smiling face again; it's always brought him comfort when nothing else did. Still, he looks back to see if Felipe is still flying after him, then he looks back to where Jewel and the others are perched.

"Something still doesn't feel right to me," Eduardo suddenly says.

"Why?" Roberto asks. "Blu and Felipe are safe."

"You say they're safe when they're flying over a ring of fire?"

"Come on, relax dad," Jewel says. "They're out of the worst of it."

"I don't relax until we're as far from the fire as we can get." Eduardo pauses. "What really worries me is what caused this fire. There have been no lightning strikes. We would know just from the thunder crashes alone!"

"FELIPE!" Blu screams.

Jewel nearly flies out to them. "Blu, what is happening?"

The Scarlet macaw zips past them, barely stopping long enough to tell them, "Go! Go! Go!"

"Wait!" Jewel stops him in mid flight. "Where is Blu?!"

"He's gone!" Felipe screeches.

The others respond in unison: "WHAT?"

"Dad!" Bia, Carla, and Tiago scream together.

"Don't!" Felipe stops the chicks before they can fly where everyone last saw Blu. "He wouldn't want you all to die looking for him in vain!"

Jewel begins to sob uncontrollably. "Oh, Blu…"

"Jewel…" Eduardo begins softly. "I'm so sorry but we have to go…"

Jewel suddenly goes into a fit that is not like her, screaming and sobbing Blu's name repeatedly and still trying to get to where her husband had been. "First my mother, now my husband!" she bellows in anguish. "Am I meant to lose my entire family to fire?!"

Eduardo throws his wings over her shoulders after he takes her to a distant branch. "Jewel, I am sorry about Blu, I truly am, but he would not want us to lose our lives too. You know that as well as I do." He wipes the tears out of his daughter's eyes.

Jewel sniffs and lets out a heavy breath but does not speak. After casting one last glance back to the once beautiful area where the two macaw tribes used to challenge each other to their own take on soccer, Jewel flies off without acknowledging those around her.

Bia, Carla, and Tiago perch on the branch just above where their mom and grandpa had perched. Their young eyes are already red from weeping.

"Daddy…" Carla sobs.

"He can't be gone…" Bia whispers.

Tiago doesn't even know what to say.

Roberto flies down to join them. "Come little ones," he whispers gently. "There is no reason for us to stay here." He pauses to take off with them. "I once promised Blu I would take care of you guys and Jewel if anything ever happened to him. I truly meant that. I'll look after the four of you like you were always my own."

"But you can't replace our dad, Uncle Beto!" Tiago protests as they fly. Even though Roberto's not their actual uncle, they've become accustomed to addressing him as such.

"I know I can't. Nobody could ever replace your real dad, but I'll still do my best to take care of you all. Autumn and I both will."

Bia flies up to Roberto to nuzzle him on the shoulder. Carla and Tiago quickly follow suit. "Thank you, Uncle Beto…" she whispers in a sobbing voice.

"Why did this have to happen…?" Tiago whimpers. "This day was off to great start…"

"…and now this!" Carla concludes.

 _I cannot even imagine what they are going through,_ Felipe thinks as he flies ahead to join Eduardo in consoling Jewel. _Jewel already lost her mother in a fire caused by the loggers…and now she had to lose the father of her chicks. Nobody deserves these kinds of losses of family…_ Felipe is not even thinking about losing his parents under similar circumstances right now.

Jewel's grieving Portuguese words suddenly reaches everyone's ears as they slowly fly to rejoin those who Eduardo had ordered to follow Mimi to the safe zone.

The sun begins to set as Jewel's mournful singing begins and there is not a dry eye among the seven macaws.

 _Give me a reason to believe that you're gone_

 _I see your shadow so I know they're all wrong_

 _Moonlight on the soft brown earth, it leads me to where you lay_

 _They took you away from me but now I'm taking you home_

 _Some say I'm crazy for my love, oh my love_

 _But no bonds can hold me from your side, oh my love_

 _They don't know you can't leave me_

 _They don't hear you singing to me_

 _I will stay forever here with you my love_

 _The softly spoken words you gave me_

 _Even in death our love goes on_

 _And I can't love you anymore than I do_

Staring at her reflection in the river as she flies, Jewel whispers, "People die, but real love is forever…"


	2. Chapter 1: Coming From the Amazon to Rio

**Chapter 1:**

 **Coming From the Amazon to Rio**

Jewel is stone faced and silent, perched alone on a branch of a tree growing two miles from her tribal home. The other birds saw the fire reach it, but Jewel did not for she'd had her back towards everyone for hours now. She had not spoken to anyone in the hours since Blu was lost in the fire, saving Felipe's life.

Eduardo approaches his daughter cautiously. He can't take just leaving her alone any longer. "Jewel?" he whispers. Roberto, Mimi, and Jewel's kids, among others, are silently watching from the branches several feet away.

Jewel doesn't answer him, only shifting her feet on the branch to make herself comfortable.

"Jewel," Eduardo repeats. "You need to talk to your ki—"

Jewel unexpectedly spins around. "Dad, I just want to be alone!" She snaps, tears flowing from her eyes uncontrollably. "Did you want everyone pestering you when Mom died and you lost me?"

Eduardo is taken aback. "Jewel, I…"

Jewel suddenly feels bad. "I'm sorry dad. I shouldn't have mentioned Mom. But please, just leave me to be alone for a while. I don't feel like talking right now…"

"If that's really want you want," Eduardo whispers. "But when you're ready, I'll be right there to talk to you."

He flies back over to the others who give Eduardo a hopeful glance until he sadly shakes his head.

"Oh, my poor Jewel…" Mimi sobs. "She's lost so much to fires. Her Mom, our old home, and now the love of her life." She suddenly turns to Felipe, who looks as devastated as everyone else. "And it's all _your_ fault this time!"

"What?" Felipe screeches. "My fault?"

"Yes, you should have been more careful out there!" Mimi angrily puffs up her feathers. "Blu had to save your clumsy butt twice out there!"

"Are you telling me macaws are meant to fly through fire?" Felipe argues. "I'd like to see you try it after a burning branch whacks you in the head!"

"Knock it off, the both of you," Eduardo barks. "What happened to Blu is nobody's fault. We don't need this nonsense right now anyway." He pauses, noticing Roberto flying towards Jewel. "Wait, wait! Where are you going Roberto?"

"To talk to Jewel," he says as he perches beside him.

"I already tried that," Eduardo says miserably. "If her own father can't get through to her, how can anybody else?"

"You know me. I was your daughter's closest friend growing up," Roberto reminds him. "I'll get her to talk, believe me."

He flaps his wings and takes off across the clearing to Jewel, where he lands softly on the branch right beside her.

"Go away…" Jewel mutters without even looking to see who it is.

"But Ju-Ju, you need to talk to someone," she hears an all-too familiar voice say.

 _Roberto?_ But instead, Jewel says, "I don't want to talk…Please, just go be with my dad right now."

"But he wanted me to be with you right now," Roberto pleads. "You and I, we've been friends since we were your kids' age. I can't just let you grieve alone. What kind of friend would that make me if I did?"

Jewel isn't sure what to say.

"When I promised Blu I would take care of you, Bia, Carla, and Tiago if anything ever happened to him," Roberto continues. "I meant that." His voice becomes sadder. "I just wish I didn't need to live up to that promise…"

Again, Jewel remains silent. Roberto almost thinks about how he's not sure what to do for her but then he remembers hearing a calming song during his time in captivity two years ago. He just hopes he can remember the words.

Roberto gulps, then begins, hoping he doesn't butcher the words and make a fool of himself trying to console his longtime friend. Shedding tears, Jewel looks back over her shoulder at Roberto when he begins singing.

 _I don't mind, no, I don't mind, I don't mind the rain_

 _The simple things and subtleties, they always stay the same_

 _I don't mind, that I don't mind, no, I don't mind the rain_

 _Like a widow's heart, we fall apart_

 _But never fade away_

Unbeknownst to Jewel and Roberto, Autumn lands on a branch behind them. Having also been captured at the same time Roberto was, she began to remember the words to the song he's singing to Jewel now and wants to help him out. In tears too, she thinks, _You never were that great at rapping._

When they hear Autumn's voice, Jewel and Roberto turn around with startled expressions until they see who it is. Roberto is especially shocked to see Autumn remembers the words as much as he does.

 _Held like a child, do you know where I came from?_

 _No I don't, but I'm singing all the same songs_

 _All alone, and you're looking for your anyone_

 _Does it hurt just to know that it's all gone?_

 _I can feel the pain in the words that you say_

 _Let me be the hands that you hold to your face_

Sitting down to Jewel's right, Autumn gently wraps a wing around Jewel as she calmly raps. Roberto quickly follows suit, sitting to Jewel's left as Autumn continues.

 _Cause I'd give it all up if I could take it away_

 _Buried in red, white, and silenced in blue_

Jewel breaks down at these words. She knows Roberto and Autumn don't know the true meaning of those words, but she does thanks to Blu telling her what it's like in America. It's the colors of the flag where Linda raised Blu. Secretly, Jewel has wanted to visit America ever since she become close to Blu, but without Blu she now doubts that will ever happen.

 _Some will die too late, and somebody too soon_

 _If he could come back, we'll see what it cost him_

 _We had to lose it all, just to know that we lost one_

 _Hi, I am just a shape in the shadow of greats_

 _Hi, I am just a voice in the choir of saints_

 _Oh, all the souls that nobody could save_

 _And just like a light, we faded away_

As soon as Autumn has finished singing, Roberto is greeted by Jewel wrapping her wings around him before he can say anything.

Roberto notices Jewel is still in tears, but something tells him they aren't just tears of grief anymore.

Jewel sniffs and wipes her beak with a wing. "Thank you, Roberto," she whispers. "I knew you'd be here for me."

"I always will be, Jewel," Roberto whispers back. "You and I, we've been friends since before we knew how to fly. I couldn't just let you be alone now when you need someone's loving touch more than ever."

Jewel chuckles softly. "You always had a way with words, Beto."

Autumn wipes tears away with her left wing. Nothing has ever moved her heart this much before in her life. Her voice cracks when she finally speaks. "He's always acted like some kinda poet, that's for sure," she tries to laugh, but her heart aches for Jewel. Autumn has never told anyone, not even Roberto, but she knows what it is like to lose someone close. She had a boyfriend before Roberto but he was shot by a poacher a month before Jewel's return.

* * *

"Tragedy struck the Blu Spix's Macaw reserve in the Amazon Rainforest earlier in the evening in the form of a sudden fire that is believed to have been caused by a sudden lightning strike," a newswoman is saying as Linda Gunderson Monteiro and Tulio Monteiro, and their adopted son Fernando, watch the television in the Blu Bird Sanctuary back in Rio. This is their first time hearing about the disaster in detail, having been called by guards of the reserve in the Amazon that something had happened in the jungle and Blu was nowhere to be found. "The Brazilian scientists and government officials studying and guarding these once rare birds, who last recorded the number of macaws at one hundred sixty-seven members, say they have only found one hundred fifty of the birds."

"Oh…" Linda gasps. "I pray Blu, Jewel, and their kids are alright…"

"They say," the newswoman continues, "that Blu, a once domestic macaw raised by Linda Gunderson Monteiro in Minnesota, is among the seventeen missing macaws."

Linda loses her mind. "Blu!" she sobs. "I knew we shouldn't have left him in the Amazon!"

"But you couldn't have possibly known this would happen, Linda," Fernando whispers. "It's not your fault."

"But it is!" Linda sobs. "I knew more than anybody that Blu is not a wild macaw but I believed he could adjust to life in the wild…and now he may be gone! I'll never forgive myself if something happened to Blu…"

"Fernando," Tulio whispers to his and Linda's adopted son. "Could you go check on the other birds? I need a minute to talk with Linda in private."

"Of course." Fernando leaves the house-like shack and crosses the bridge to where several small birds are flying around another building. He knows Tulio wants to try and convince Linda she can't blame herself.

* * *

"Where are we going to go, Eduardo?" Roberto asks. "The fire destroyed much of our home, and the Scarlet macaws' home didn't fare any better."

"Daddy?" Jewel asks in a small voice.

"Yes?"

"I have one suggestion," she continues, trying not to be choked up by her grief. "But you may like it."

"What is it, dear?" Eduardo says softly. "I'm open to anything right now."

"Well…my idea was we take the entire tribe to Rio." Jewel's voice begins to sound a little stronger. "There are Brazil Nut trees close to the city, more than enough for us all. It won't be an easy flight for some of us but it is all I can see us doing."

"I think…" Eduardo begins slowly. "Everyone would really like that. Your kids used to always fly about telling everyone about what it's like in Rio." He doesn't mention Blu on purpose; his daughter is upset enough. "Everyone seemed interested in seeing how Blu lived his life for so long at the time."

Autumn decides to join in.

"I still am." She doesn't sound as excited as she would have yesterday before the fire destroyed much of this protected region and took the lives of some of those they were close to.

"It's not like there's much left for us here," Felipe finally speaks, observing how so much of their home had been burned away over night before the humans could get here with water to stop the spreading fire. But they had been too late: the Spix's macaws' territory had been burned away completely and there hadn't been much more left of the Scarlet macaws' territory either when helicopters had arrived to dump water over this region of the jungle.

Felipe shivers at this tragic sight. It takes him back to his days as a chick, before he could even fly, when a similar tragedy struck in his tribe's old home miles from here. His parents were killed in the fire caused by the same loggers who also cost Jewel's mother her life, whom the two Macaw tribes and other jungle animals worked together to drive away from their new home.

"A-Are you sure this is a good idea?" Roberto stammers. "Living among so many humans? Can we really t-trust them all?" He starts to lose his mind just as he did several weeks ago when he had this very discussion with Blu. "Oh they lure you in…then they trap you…they DESTROY YOUR MIND! Polly want a cracker? Polly want a cracker? NO! NO MORE CRACKERS! I HATE CRACKERS!"

Then he shows everyone the band around his right ankle that he normally keeps hidden under his feathers; it reads "Polly". Roberto will never forget what Hell those humans put him through, making him do things only humans should do, keep asking him if he wants crackers, and oh, he wishes to forget how abusive the children had been. He still thinks about how lucky he is to have not had his body broken in half when they really got aggressive; worst of all, the parents had done nothing to stop their kids from nearly _killing_ Roberto.

"Oh, snap out of it!" Felipe says and then slaps Roberto with his wing. "There's no way all humans can be like the ones that threw you in a cage."

"It wasn't just them!" Roberto continues to panic. "Their children! They almost snapped me in half like a twig! And THE PARENTS DID NOTHING ABOUT IT!" he screams. "So don't tell me to snap out of it until you've had your back bent like that!"

"Enough already, Roberto," Eduardo interrupts. "That's all in the past so try and forget about it."

"Forget about being nearly broken in half?" Roberto mutters under his breath. "Yeah, sure I can…"

"Well I suppose it is settled then." Eduardo decides to ignore Roberto. "We're all going to Rio." He looks at his daughter, perched between Felipe and Autumn. "Lead the way Jewel." He pauses. "And kids," he adds, looking at Bia, Carla, and Tiago.

"Wait a minute," Jewel suddenly says.

"What? Why?" her kids complain.

Jewel does not answer, instead flying over to a lone Blue macaw perched on a branch with his back facing everyone.

"Is something wrong, Uncle?"

"Is something wrong?" he repeats in an annoyed voice. "Of course there's something wrong. All of you really believe you can live amongst humans, _in a city_ no less? I know you loved Blu and you love your kids but you can't really believe living in some city only a handful of you have ever seen before is a good idea?"

"Well, of course I do!" Jewel protests. "How can you say it's a horrible idea without giving it a shot?"

Adriano almost snaps. "Don't forget what the humans took from us and from you. Your mother is not with us because of those loggers."

"Not all humans are bad! You know that! Linda and Tulio risked their lives to help us save our home from the loggers!"

"And so what? That doesn't change the fact that you never got to know your mother, or that Felipe was orphaned at the same age, because of those loggers. Are you really going to forgive all humans and just forget that they are why your mother is not with us?"

Jewel pulls away from her uncle when he tries to place a wing on her shoulder, tears forming in her eyes. "Blu trusted humans and I will continue to. But maybe you can stay here all by yourself," she adds, her voice breaking from a mixture of anger and sadness. "I won't make you do what you don't want to." She flies off. Jewel doesn't remember her uncle ever being this way before.

"Jewel!" Adriano calls to her. _Maybe I did go a little too far._

"Stubborn jerk!" Jewel screeches back at Adriano without even looking at her uncle. "Don't talk to me again until you are able to see things other than how you want! Stay here alone for all I care! If you aren't going to change, then this is goodbye Uncle!"

Jewel's little brother, Carlinhos, suddenly calls out to her, and takes flight after her. "Jewel, wait!"

 _Carlinhos?_ Jewel thinks. _You never paid much attention to me before._

"Don't let him bother you," Carlinhos says. "Our Uncle is just confused. He never learned to trust humans like all of us did."

"Don't I know it!" Jewel spits bitterly. "Why should I accept him if he can't change now?"

They perch beside each other on a branch.

"He'll learn eventually," Carlinhos whispers. "I'm sure of it."

"Believe in him all you want," Jewel mutters. "Some birds can't change. But I for one won't let our Uncle stop all of our tribe and the Scarlet macaws from heading to Rio. They all want to, so that is all that matters to me." She pauses. "One bird's opinion is meaningless to what the whole tribe wants."

Jewel turns away from her brother to face the two macaw tribes. "We're leaving for Rio now!" she tells them all. "With or without you, Uncle," Jewel then whispers so no one but herself and Carlinhos hear it.

Roberto and Eduardo take note of how dark the sky is getting, and fly ahead to warn Jewel, who seems next to oblivious about it.

"Jewel, it's getting dark," Roberto says. "And the others, they're getting tired. We've been flying all afternoon."

"I think it's about time we call it a night," Eduardo says, "and find somewhere to rest until sunrise. It's not safe for so many macaws to be flying after dark."

"Why on Earth not?" Jewel snaps. Roberto and Eduardo can tell she's still rather pissed off about her Uncle's attitude.

"Bats," Eduardo says bluntly. "They don't take too kindly to us Blue and Scarlet macaws flying in their airspace after dark."

"And not even this many of us in one place will stop them from showing we aren't welcome in the air after dark," Roberto adds.

Jewel scans the river below for somewhere they can rest for the night. _Perfect_ , she thinks upon spotting a supply boat that will surely be enough room for them all. "There!" she calls out so everyone can hear her. "We'll spend the night on that supply boat. It will be even better if we can find an open crate to hide in."

Bia, Carla, and Tiago fly up to be by their mother's side. They had been talking to Autumn and some of her girlfriends up until now.

"What if there's not, Mom," Bia asks, "and humans on the ship find us?"

"I don't think they will make a big deal," Jewel says calmly. "If they have TV, I'm sure they know about what happened to both our homes in the Amazon and will understand." She pauses briefly to dive down. "Besides, this boat is taking supplies down river from one city to Rio. I've seen it several times over the past few weeks since we drove out the loggers. There's no reason for the people on it to chase us all away."

"I just hope you are right," Felipe yawns. "I'm exhausted."

"We all are, Felipe," Roberto corrects his rival turned close friend, following up with his own yawn. "We've all flown a long ways from our home. Or at least that is what Jewel told us that Blu's…uh…What do you call that thing anyway?"

"GPS," Jewel explains. "Global Positioning System." She tries not to break down into another crying fit right now. They need her to lead them. "Blu tried using it to find our way through the Amazon. It'll help us find our way to Rio."

Jewel is now wearing Blu's fanny pack that he brought to the Amazon around her waist; other than the GPS, the pack still contains an Adventurer's Knife, Bia's _Amazonia_ pop-up booklet, Carla's iPod, Tiago's flight goggles, a map of Brazil, gum, a torch, a whistle, bug spray, a compressible plastic drinking cup, a box of breath mints, a flathead screwdriver, a pack of marshmallows, an ink pen, band aids, toothpaste, a water purifier, and a smart phone. She may not need many of these other items but Jewel is nonetheless thankful Blu had shown her how to use the GPS, something she used to find rather annoying, before…she cannot force herself to finish that thought involving Blu, so she erases the horrible memories of yesterday afternoon from her mind completely again.

"Do not descend," the automated female voice of the GPS warns. "Descending will take you off course from Rio de Janeiro."

"No it won't GPS lady," Jewel mutters. "It'll take us right to Rio." She presses the red button to shut the GPS off so it won't keep all the macaws up all night with its talk about them not going anywhere.

"Mom!" Tiago calls out, for he and his sisters had flown ahead of the two macaw tribes. "You were right! The humans did leave one of these crates open and it's completely empty."

"There's more than enough room for us all!" Carla adds.

"But are there any trees or perches?" a Scarlet macaw asks.

"I'm afraid not," Bia says. "We'll all have to sit on the floor of the crate."

"Birds sleeping on the ground?" another Scarlet macaw says. "What kind of temporary home is this gonna be?"

"You'll all live," Eduardo says. "It's just for one night anyway."


	3. Chapter 2: Traveling Dilemmas

**Author's note:** This chapter sure turned out to have a lot of different emotions presented in it, but I'm satisfied with the result. I don't really have much else to say this time. I did, however, fit in some accidental humor in this chapter in with the drama (anyone that's read the prologue knows what I mean) to attempt lightening the mood a lot. There are some moments in this chapter involving Roberto I couldn't stop re-reading before this chapter was even finished.

Edit: I was in a rush to get this chapter posted earlier because of how long I worked on this one, so I didn't bother putting much through into this author's note (I normally don't anyway outside of the one at the beginning of the first chapter in my stories though). I should've because I accidentally forgot to mention that mikey1393drago helped with the title of this chapter and some of the comedy in the some involving Roberto later on.

* * *

 **Chapter 2:**

 **Traveling Dilemmas**

Jewel is awoken with a start by the sound of several pairs of talons walking past her as she sleeps sitting up beside her kids, Roberto, and Autumn.

"Huh?" she says groggily. "What is going on? Shouldn't everyone be sleeping?"

"Your dad wants to talk to everyone," a female Scarlet macaw says as she flies past the sleeping Spix's macaws to where the others are gathering at the opposite end of the compartment.

Jewel looks to her right. Roberto, Autumn, and the kids are still sleeping.

"Roberto, wake up!" Jewel screeches.

Roberto yelps in alarm. "Huh? What? I'm awake mother!"

Instinctively, he wraps his wings around the bird closest to him; it happens to be Autumn, who is anything but amused.

"Do I look like your mother to you?" Autumn sarcastically barks at Roberto.

The others woke with a start too but they did not react to Jewel's screeching the way Roberto did.

Jewel stands there tapping her foot with a stern look on her face, clearly not amused.

"Oh." Roberto chuckles nervously. "Heh. It's just Ju-Ju."

"What is she yelling about?" Autumn complains, following up with a rather loud yawn. "I was sleeping so well."

"My dad wants to talk to everyone," Jewel tells them. "It has to be important so try to hurry."

Jewel flies over to join everyone else without giving them a chance to say anything else to her.

"She's a different bird now," Autumn whispers.

"Wouldn't you be if you lost your husband?" Roberto says.

Bia, Carla, and Tiago just gasp and stare.

"For your information, I _know_ what she's going through," Autumn snaps at Roberto. "Before I hooked up with you, my old boyfriend was _shot_ by poachers, so don't give me that shit 'if you lost your husband'." She flies dangerously close to Roberto, with her talons even more dangerously close to his throat. "I'll lose another boyfriend if you keep it up. Beto. Now come on, Eduardo is waiting."

Autumn flies off, not waiting for Roberto or Jewel's kids to follow her over to the meeting.

Roberto blinks at the kids.

"Remind me not to cross her on a bad day," Bia whispers. "Or a good day either…"

"Agreed," Carla and Tiago say together nervously, blinking and holding each other close.

* * *

"Quiet everyone!" Eduardo shouts when his grandkids and Roberto finally join the gathering. "There is something we must discuss before we arrive at this 'Rio'." He pauses. "My daughter's idea to relocate to this 'Rio' is not the worst idea I've heard, but we do not know what we may get into there."

"But dad," Jewel says. "Rio is the next best place we can all live other than in the Amazon. It will be good for everyone. I promise."

"I want to believe you," Eduardo says. "You're my daughter after all, but how many good humans are there in Rio?"

"Plenty, dad!" Jewel pleads. "You just need to know where and how to find them. My kids and I could show everybody."

"And what would there be for everyone to do there?" Eduardo continues as if he didn't hear what his daughter said about humans. "We're birds, not humans."

"Well, there's mud bathing," Jewel says. The expression on her face seems oddly pleasured at the mention of a mud bath, which Roberto clearly noticed that did not seem like Jewel at all. "I haven't met a bird that doesn't enjoy a hot mud bath."

"Excuse me?" Eduardo gasps. He shakes his head with disbelief at his daughter's words. They're nearly far fetched for any bird and especially someone going through what Jewel is. "'Mud Bath'? But we've always only used mud for camouflage in the jungle, not to bathe in!"

"But it's so relaxing feeling the heated mud around your body after a day of playing sports with my kids and helping Bia sell cookies for the Girl Scouts," Jewel presses in an extremely calm voice. She shudders in pleasure, imagining the feeling of hot mud around her body as she talks about it. It's been so long since she found herself in a mud bath at the spas in Rio. "There's nothing better about life in the city than a mud bath, I'm telling ya daddy." In a relaxed fashion as if she's laying on a pillow, Jewel stretches her legs out in front of her and yawns. "And all you girls, they'd love it to have a human paint their talons whatever color they ask for!"

"I'll believe that when you show me," Eduardo laughs sarcastically. "Painting one's talons. Ridiculous."

"But it's true Pop-Pop," Bia says. To emphasize her point, Bia raises up one foot to show her grandfather her faded but still pink-hued talons and wiggles them.

Eduardo is not sure what to think about this act from Bia.

"And you can be with new neighbors," Jewel continues, "just lazing about for the whole day with friends and no fear of predators or bad humans!"

Eduardo cocks an eyebrow. "No fear of predators, you say?" he repeats.

"Yep. Not one."

"Just give it a shot Eddie!" Felipe shouts from the crowd. "It won't kill ya to do something new for a change!"

"Hmm." Eduardo looks at the audience of Spix's and Scarlet macaws. They're all talking amongst each other about how Rio must be the greatest place in the world. She tries to hide her depression, with all the cheerful reasons for going to Rio. Roberto however, can see she is concealing her feelings under the guise of her smiling face. Eduardo finally realizes this with the way Roberto motions to him, and this gives him the reason as to why he agreeably decides to give Rio a try after all. "I think I may give this 'Rio' a shot after all. It seems like everyone else is curious about it."

A resounding call rises up from the audience: "Yes!"

"I knew I'd convince you," Jewel laughs. "Now if I can just get you in a mud bath…"

"Woah, woah," Eduardo stops her. "One step at a time, dear."

"I'd give up a whole stash of Brazil Nuts to see Ol' Eddie paint his talons with some of our chica macaws!" Felipe pipes up again.

 _What am I going to get myself into when we get to Rio?_ Eduardo thinks. He shakes his head with disbelief.

"Don't worry, Dad," Jewel says, finally sitting back up from her apparent relaxed position. "You'll love it in Rio." She gently nuzzles her head against his chest, welcoming his comfort once more before all Macaws head back to the storage compartment to sleep till the new dawn.

Eduardo sighs. "I'm still not quite convinced about some things."

"Why not?" Jewel sobs.

"Tell me, what about mud bathing and having your talons painted is supposed to convince me Rio is a great place?" He pauses. "And I'm sure there are more places safe from predators than just Rio. I know you, Blu, and your kids lived there with Linda and Tulio but that doesn't make it the perfect home for everyone."

Jewel looks to Bia for help; she feels sick to her stomach all of a sudden. She can now taste her own tears and can't find the right words or the confidence to continue.

 _Oh crap. I've screwed up big time now._

"Not in the wild, Pop-Pop," Bia says. "And Rio is much closer to here than most cities than you think."

"Ugh. Just give in, Eddie," Felipe groans. "You're not gonna win, and for crying out loud, we want to actually sleep tonight! If I'm willing to give it a chance out of us birds here, I'd expect you'd be even more open to the idea. I thought I was the most stubborn macaw. Or did you forget about that fanny pack you have around your gut already? Those two humans that saved our home gave it to you."

Eduardo clear his throat. "Linda and Tulio are one thing," he says. "Who says every human in Rio is like them?"

"They are, trust me!" Bia protests.

Bia stomps her foot on the floor of the compartment with emphasis.

Roberto groans. He's had about enough of this for one night, and knows Jewel is torturing herself under her compelling action to listen to this debate any longer.

"None of us really know. But we should rest for now. Jewel needs to take her mind off of her thoughts for tonight."

"I think Uncle Roberto is right mum. We need to sleep before the day starts again."

Upon Bia's concluding phrase, all Macaws try to search for a place they can roost.

* * *

"The boat is moving!" a female Scarlet macaw whose name is Graça screeches from a designated lookout post atop a smaller compartment, as the boat continues to shake like an earthquake.

Her subsequent distress calls wake up the entire compartment-full of macaws. The next thing they know, an annoyed voice from above suddenly manifests.

"Someone quiet that Macaw down!"

A younger-sounding voice answers the first. "What Macaw? There are no birds on our boat!"

"Are you deaf? She's screeching like a bird possessed!" The middle-aged voice continued.

Trying her best to keep from revealing the other macaws' hiding spot to the humans, Graça flies down from the lookout spot back to the storage compartment.

"We need to hide!" Graça pants. "They saw me!"

Felipe's feathers puff up in anger. "I told you to not draw attention to us!" He raises a wing but it is stopped by Roberto.

"We don't have time for this nonsense, Felipe!" Roberto growls. "You heard Graça. We need to hide. _Now._ "

Felipe mutters to Graça as the birds fly into the darkest corners of the storage compartment. "I'll talk to you about your mistake later." He glares at his little sister with disdain. "I knew they shouldn't have trusted the younger sibling with…"

Felipe's rant becomes inaudible as he disappears among the flock of macaws, leaving Graça behind to weep by herself.

Carlinhos takes note of this before he looks at Jewel. "I'll be right back, Sis," he says. "Stay with her Roberto."

"No!" Jewel cries. "Don't leave my side!"

Roberto cannot stand to see Jewel so mentally unstable, acting like a young Macaw afraid to be separated from its parents. He puts a wing over her left shoulder. "Your brother's not going far," he says. "I'll stay by your side until he returns." Roberto wipes tears from Jewel's face with his wing.

Carlinhos lands by Graça's side. She pays no attention to her visitor, believing he's just going to fly past her to hide like everyone else has so far. Why would a Blue macaw pay any attention to a shy Scarlet macaw like her anyway?

"Hey," Carlinhos gently whispers in Graça's ear.

"What do you want?" Graça growls. "You're just going to ignore me like everyone else always has. I might as well fly back to the jungle to spend the rest of my life alone. I'm an outcast among my own tribe. Even my own brother hates me ever since our parents died. Felipe doesn't believe I can do anything right to help others."

Carlinhos sits down beside her, figuring they are still well enough out of sight of the humans who might come looking for Graça. "Everyone is good at something," he says. "You just need to find what you're good at. It may not be keeping watch for us, but who cares? I know you're good at something, you just need to discover what your talent is."

"Try telling that to my brother. Felipe has always thought I'm a useless sister. Our parents never even did anything to stop how he treated me." Graça pauses to weep, prompting Carlinhos to gently wrap his wings around her. Her voice suddenly breaks. "There are times I feel like just dying by the way Felipe still treats me. I've only ever felt worthless because of him."

"Some big brother he is," Carlinhos mutters. "Forget him. You don't need a brother like that in your life." He embraces Graça again. "Stick with me. I'll treat you like how a beautiful Macaw like you deserves to be treated."

Graça forces a chuckle. "You sound like you've taken flattery lessons from Roberto." A small smile forms on her beak. "I appreciate it nonetheless. Nobody has ever said anything like that to me before." Graça appreciatively pecks Carlinhos on the cheek and wraps one wing around his back so that they are now holding each other.

After they fly to join Jewel, her kids, Roberto, and Autumn a few minutes later, Carlinhos and Graça rest against each other as the flock of birds wait for the humans to pass.

Autumn leans over to Roberto. "Am I dreaming?" she whispers. "A Blue and Scarlet Macaw in love?"

Roberto smiles. "There are no boundaries to true love."

"Like me loving to rap and you loving to sing?"

"I was thinking more on the lines of loving someone from a different species will not stop even true love."

Spix's Macaws and Scarlet Macaws are capable of producing healthy chicks, as the two species belong to the same biological Orders and Families, so in a way, Roberto's statement is more true than he and Autumn will ever know.

"A red feather! I told you I saw a Scarlet Macaw!"

The macaws' brains scream: _Humans!_

"She must've flown off when you frightened her," a woman called Octávia says. Octávia is fittingly wearing a Spix's Macaw-themed bikini, the Macaws on the bra and panties seeming to resemble Blu, Jewel, Bia, Carla, and Tiago, albeit much more stylized than the real thing. If Jewel and her kids saw this, they would be shocked to learn they were well-known enough to have clothing designs featuring them. "I can't say I blame her. You can't just go around screaming when there's a rare bird on your boat."

"At least somebody is on our side," Eduardo mutters.

"You want me to go take a look?" Roberto asks.

"No, but you're going to anyway, so be careful and quiet."

Jewel shudders. "No, Roberto!"

"I'll be alright, Ju-Ju. I promise."

Crawling up a wooden beam not unlike a bat would, Roberto finds a way out of the storage compartment where the humans aren't looking around for the moment. He squeezes through a small window at the top of the compartment and looks around.

 _No humans here,_ he thinks. _Good. Now to see what else this 'boat' has to offer._

Roberto flies across the deck to an open door with a sign reading 'Reserved'. He pays no mind to it and goes on in to find it's what Jewel told him humans call a bedroom, complete with a bed meant for two humans, and a door leading to what Jewel called a 'bathroom'.

"Nice room," Roberto remarks. "Not as good as mine back in the jungle was though." He flies up onto the bed to examine it when he hears voices coming from outside. _Oh no._

"I'm gonna shower dear," Roberto hears Octávia say, "now that the excitement is over."

 _I must hide! But where?_

Then it hits him and Roberto dives under the bed. There's a few suitcases under it, but there's still plenty of room for the Macaw to hide.

Roberto hears the door shut behind Octávia. Holding his breath and not even daring to speak, he nearly faints when he sees Octávia's bare feet only inches away from his hiding spot that isn't seeming like such a good idea now. What if the woman wants to reach for one of these things on either side of him?

Roberto relaxes when Octávia does no such thing, but he is confused upon seeing her clothes drop on the floor before she walks to the other room and disappears. After a minute, he hears water running from the other room.

 _I think now's a good time to get out of here,_ Roberto thinks as he crawls out from under the bed. _Why did she leave these things here?_ He wonders, curiously observing Octávia's discarded bra and panties, the kind of thing he has never seen before. _And why are Blu, Jewel, and the kids' faces all over it?_ He shakes his head. _I'll never understand humans but I can probably take them with me to ask Jewel what all this is._

Roberto grabs the bra and panties up in his talons before looking for a means of escape, since Octávia had shut the door behind her. He finds it in the form of a window that had been left open, but he does nothing more than peek out until he sees there are no humans nearby to spot him. After a minute of keeping watch, Roberto takes off for the storage compartment.

* * *

Roberto suddenly crash lands into the storage compartment, becoming a mess of feathers and bikini. When he sits up, the bra is over his head, prompting a laugh from Jewel, Bia, Carla, and Tiago, the only Macaws who would understand.

"What?" Roberto squawks.

"I didn't know you're into wearing a woman's clothes!" Bia quips.

"Huh?" He is as confused as he was before.

"Humans don't have feathers like us to keep warm," Bia explains. "They make what they call 'clothes' to accomplish that."

"So?"

"You stole that woman's bra and panties," Jewel says in a deadpan tone that would have made Roberto think it was Autumn. "She won't be pleased when she finds out her clothes are missing." Then with further sarcasm, she adds, "I don't think her husband will mind too much, though."

"What does it matter if she has 'clothes' or not if all it's for is to keep warm?" Roberto wonders aloud. "It's hot here all the time so it seems pointless. Whoever she was sure seems like a fan of macaws. These patterns look a lot like you and the kids." He doesn't mention Blu on purpose, knowing it would likely send Jewel back into her depressed state.

Jewel and the kids look at each other. Are they really going to have to explain this to Roberto?

"Well…" Jewel begins. "There are…um…parts of humans' bodies they can't have…er…uncovered in public. Their bodies…well, aren't like our's underneath all these feathers. Or in their case, under their clothes."

"Whoever you took that from is naked now," Bia blurts out.

Jewel screeches. She cannot believe her ears. She'd expect that kind of outburst from Tiago, not Bia! "Watch your beak Beatriz Gunderson!"

Bia retracts. "What? It's true!"

Tiago cannot contain his laughter any longer. "Bia, you said 'naked'!"

Carla reaches into Jewel's fanny pack, feels around for a few seconds, then pulls out a Brazil Nut and subsequently lodges it in Tiago's beak before he can embarrass her any further. "Plug it, Tiago," she says with a glare. "Little brothers," Carla adds, rolling her eyes, before resuming listening to her iPod.

Roberto sighs. "I still don't get it but alright."

"Alright, who took my bikini?!"

"I think she found out…" Autumn says.

There is a low gasp as Tiago finally spits the Brazil Nut out, sending it careening right into Autumn's head. Tiago chuckles nervously and tries hiding behind his older sisters, but they just step out of the way and stare at him as if to say 'You've done it now'.

"Tiago!" Autumn groans and starts rubbing her head with a wing. "You bet I'm gonna have a talk with you later if your mother doesn't!" She puffs up her chest feathers with anger. "Count yourself lucky if I don't tan your rear until it looks like a Scarlet Macaw's!"

Tiago protectively covered his rear with his wings. Jewel has done that to him before after the first time their father made them pancakes because he'd left Bia covered in maple syrup, blueberries, and whipped cream. Needless to say, Blu never asked Tiago if he wanted to help with breakfast again.

"It was an accident!"

"Tell me, Jewel, is your son always like this?"

Jewel looks at her kids, then back to Autumn. "You don't even know the half of it."

"Mum!" Tiago whines.

"Alright, alright." Jewel decides she's not going to listen to this anymore right now. "Let's just go see what is going on up there now."

Jewel, Roberto, Autumn, and the kids fly up onto a cabinet to peek out through a window. Octávia is walking around on the deck of the ship, furious and in the state Jewel had tried describing to Roberto.

"Now do you understand why humans have to wear clothes?"

Roberto covers his eyes with his wings. "Uh huh…"

Bia pipes up again. "Well I think human women look better naked. Their clothes can be so tacky sometimes." Jewel shoots another harsh glare at her daughter, but it does not bother Bia, who proceeds to pick up the bra and panties that Roberto snatched just to prove her point. "I get we're well-known and all, but give me a break! I'd rather see a woman like that than wearing this any day of the week."

Hesitantly, Roberto uncovers one eye, being a little more curious than he was initially. For some reason, he finds that one eye being drawn to the woman's chest, and he soon uncovers his other eye to see it better.

"What are those? Why are they shaped like the melons we eat back in the jungle?"

Jewel and the kids thought they were going to fall off the cabinet laughing but they suppress the urge, knowing it would betray their location to the humans.

"What?" Roberto yelps. "Was it something I said?"

"That's great! 'Melons'!" Jewel screeches. "Oh, Beto, you have a lot to learn about human terms before you blurt things out in the future!"

"I guess I do because I don't know anything other than comparing those things to melons. They're huge!"

Jewel and the kids are crying at this point.

"Oh, Uncle Roberto, just stop!" Bia howls. "You're just making it worse for yourself!"

"You are going the wrong way," a female voice within the fanny pack around Jewel's waist says. Jewel immediately unzips the pack and pulls out the GPS. "You are going the wrong way," the GPS repeats.

The birds hear Octávia shouting from above again. "Will you find my clothes already before river police see me like this?"

Then they hear her husband shout back. "I told you to pack more clothes than just your bathing suite!"

"Maybe one of these two shouldn't have decided to hide my only clothes."

"Hey, my partner and I did no such thing. We weren't even in your room."

"But I think I know who did," the captain's partner says. "Look at all those Macaws coming from the storage compartment!" He pauses. "And look at what that one is carrying!"

"Hey!" Octávia yells at Roberto. "Bring that back!"

"Just keep going, Beto," Jewel says. "We're already too far from the boat to make returning anything worth while."

"Those have to be the Spix's and Scarlet Macaws from the Amazon Basin," the boat captain says. "There was a fire that displaced them from their home a few days ago in spite of us calling in the fire team to deal with it. We should call the Blu Bird Sanctuary in Rio de Janeiro. They would be interested in this turn of events."

"Tell them to send my bikini back if they see that thieving Macaw!" Octávia complains. "You know that was the only clothes I packed for this short trip! Everything else is back in our hotel in Rio!"

"We know, we know!" the captain groans. He swears he's getting a headache from this woman's constant whining. "Just give it a rest and go get a towel or something if you're so worried about us getting in trouble with river police while I call the Blu Bird Sanctuary."

* * *

"I can't believe she's still going on about these things," Roberto says to Jewel and Autumn. Jewel doesn't laugh though, and Roberto knows that sudden phase of happiness she'd experienced is over. "I'm half tempted to drop them in the river."

"Maybe you should try and put it on Roberto," Autumn laughs. "It'd be something great for Jewel to take a picture with using that…" She looks at Bia for help. "…whatcha call it again?"

"Smart phone."

"Yeah. That."

Roberto doesn't find the idea very appealing. "I think I'll pass wearing something that a human wore."

"You're no fun," Autumn laughs. She rips the panties out of Roberto's talons and fits it awkwardly over his head. "There!"

"Gah!" Roberto shakes his head in disgust and lets the panties fall into the river. "I may not know much about humans but I saw where she was wearing that on her body." He even dives down into the water just to wash his entire body off after that. "That was disgusting." Roberto instinctively spits and it nearly hits Autumn, but she dodges it.

"Hey! Watch where you're spitting. Aren't you supposed to be some proper bird anyway? Spitting like that is so low, even for you my love."

"But you just put that over my head. How low can you go? If I'm proper, you most certainly have to be proper too."

Autumn can't help but laugh now. "Oh I'm just plucking your feathers Beto-boo. I don't care if someone is proper or not as long they know how to treat a chica right. Spit all ya want."

"How far until we're back in Rio, Mum?" Carla asks. Bia and Tiago are flying on either side of her.

"3,092 kilometers," the GPS says. Jewel presses a button on the GPS then asks that question again. "1,921 miles," it says this time.

"That's great," Graça interrupts. The beautiful Scarlet Macaw is still flying with Carlinhos. They haven't left each other's sides since Carlinhos got through to the once depressed Scarlet Macaw. "So, we're nowhere near our destination? Perfect! How many days do we have?"

"I don't think it understands that." Jewel cocks her head, powerfully shaking the GPS with her right foot.

"Erratic flying."

"Does that thing ever know what it's talking about?"

"I don't think you're supposed to shake it like a maraca Mum," Tiago says.

Bia is reading the GPS's instruction booklet as they fly, holding it on one talon. "He's right. The booklet warns you not to shake the GPS like that."

Jewel shakes her head. "I really wonder how this thing helped us find our way here. It can't even backtrack and lead us home to Rio."

"Error! No road! Error!"

Jewel growls. "Of course there's no road you piece of junk. We're in the Amazon!"

"Crayon Factory. Stadium Crayons Ltd. UK. Birmingham. 8,373 kilometers. 5,202.7 miles."

Tiago blinks. "Well. We know where the GPS lady has been."

 _Damn it._ "Ugh. That's the last straw! These birds are not taking a trip to Great Britain, GPS lady." Jewel turns the GPS off and stuffs it back in the fanny pack with the manual before it has the opportunity to raise her blood pressure any further. "So much for technology. It's about time I go back to relying on my natural instincts to get us home."

"Shall we ask Uncle Roberto to throw the GPS in the river too?!" Tiago asks, intent for his mum to hear.

"Tiago! Don't give him ideas!" Jewel shouted back in a stern tone.

"Tiago got in trouble again!" Carla teased.

"Shut up sis!" Tiago rudely remarked.

"Don't give a rude remark like that Tiago," Bia stated.

"Whatever," Tiago concluded before going silent.


	4. Chapter 3: The Cockatoo and the Frog

**Author's note:** Proofread by mikey1393drago (as usual, so it's common knowledge in the future as I won't always have authors notes on my chapters). He's also been assisting with some of the writing/ideas, so I guess you can tell this a collaboration (sort of). (Collaboration isn't the word I'm trying to think of but I'm sure everyone knows what I mean.)

* * *

 **Chapter 3:  
The Cockatoo and the Frog**

One thousand eight hundred fifty miles to the south of the Amazon is the Blu Bird Sanctuary, named for the missing Macaw who has twice saved his own kind, first from poachers and then from illegal loggers. In the days following Blu's disappearance and apparent death, the Sanctuary has been closed to the public so Linda can mourn her loss with Tulio and Fernando.

Linda has all but forgotten what her job is, and quite often Tulio and Fernando have had to do everything with occasional help from the native veterinarian Dr. Monáe. The Blu Bird Sanctuary crew had been helping a bird hit by a car recover most recently when they received the news from the Amazon that a fire had burned through much of the rainforest and Blu was missing. It was now a common occurrence for Linda to find herself unable to care for the birds, always being reminded of the best friend she may never see again.

Nigel, the Cockatoo kept here in a cage in the veterinary station of the Sanctuary for the other birds' safety, has not been able to pay much attention to the humans today. A certain tree frog will still not leave him alone.

"Yuck," the Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo spits.

How Nigel wishes he could escape that damn Tree Frog whose parents appropriately named Gabi. She just won't shut up and leave him alone long enough to get some sleep. Nigel can't remember the last time he slept well.

 _If not because of that macaw Blu, it's because of Gabi as to why I'm grouchy!_

Still, there has been one positive turn of events in Nigel's life recently: He heard the news on this sanctuary's television about a fire burning through the Blue Macaws' territory, and that Blu, the bird who caused him so much suffering, was reported missing and presumed dead. Blu being dead would be a dream come true for Nigel; he would never fly again because of that macaw. Nigel only wishes he had been responsible for Blu's death if the reports are accurate.

"You won't leave another bird flightless now, will you Blu?" Nigel laughs to himself. "I only hope the fire reduced your dead body to ashes that got blown away by wind so nobody ever sees you again." Nigel pictures that dark scene in his mind.

"I love it when you talk dark," he hears Gabi say. "Your way with words puts that…what did you say his name was again?"

"Shakespeare," the Cockatoo growls. _Oh help me,_ Nigel thinks. _I thought that damned frog finally got lost. Why can't she just leave me alone? I've suffered enough migraines from her running her mouth since these tree huggers captured me._ He stops for a second. _I would have wished to have been chopped up in that airplane propeller if I'd known I would have to live my life with a tree frog as my only groupie…_

"Your way with words puts that Shakespeare to shame," Gabi concludes.

Then he as a realization. _Better yet, I wish Gabi had really been venomous then she would've had to live with the guilt of killing me for a moment before she thought she'd be taking her own life with her supposed venom!_

How Nigel misses those days when all the female birds fainted when he walked past them and he spent the night with a different one every night. Now the only woman he has is a puny frog he'd like to slice up with his beak and have for dinner but Gabi probably would give him indigestion if he made a meal out of her.

 _Frogs don't taste that good anyway,_ he thinks. _Been there, done that, and sure as hell ain't ever doing it again. But maybe I can just rip her apart and throw her out the window the next time they let me out of this cage…nobody would suspect me if I have time to rinse her blood from my feathers._

"Whatcha thinking about Nigel?" Gabi asks.

 _You'd hate me if I told you_. Nigel sighs. _Wait, maybe I should tell her then! I'd have her out of my feathers for good!_ He hears the door open. _Great. The featherless ones are back. I'm not sure what's worse, the humans constantly studying me or Gabi's motormouth driving me up the damn walls of this cursed place day and night._

"How are you doing today?" Dr. Monáe asks Nigel.

The Cockatoo responds by screeching aggressively.

"I'll take that as 'terrible'," she says in a deadpan voice.

"You'd be feeling terrible too if you couldn't fly away from this stupid frog," Nigel mutters.

"What was that Nigel dear?" Gabi pipes up.

Nigel chooses to ignore her. He truly doesn't care if Gabi heard him clearly. With Blu out of his life for good, there's nothing Nigel would love more than to break Gabi's heart and drive her out of his life _for good_.

"I don't understand why he's so aggressive towards everything," Nigel hears Dr. Monáe saying to Tulio. "We've done nothing to wrong him."

 _You've wronged me by not putting this tree frog in her own cage,_ Nigel thinks bitterly.

"Can you get that, please?" Tulio asks Dr. Monáe when the phone rings. "I want to see if I can get through to him today."

"Oh no," Nigel groans. He hates it when this fool squawks at him like a bird.

"Blu Bird Sanctuary," Dr. Monáe says. "What can we do for you?"

"I saw two flocks of macaws flying out of the storage compartment of my travel boat," a man says. "Spix's macaws and Scarlet macaws. They seemed to be heading to Rio De Janeiro."

"Just a moment." Dr. Monáe places her hand over the phone. "Tulio! You'll want to take this. This man claims to have seen the Spix's and Scarlet macaw flocks from the Amazon Basin resting in his boat."

"What?" Tulio gasps.

"Saved from stupidity by the macaws," Nigel sighs sarcastically.

Tulio takes the phone from Dr. Monáe. Stammering, he says, "Y-You saw what now?"

"I saw the flocks of Scarlet and Spix's macaws you guys study there flying out of the storage compartment of my boat," the man repeats. "It's like they were wanting to get to Rio De Janeiro for whatever reason."

"Tell them that one of those blue birds stole my bathing suite!" a woman in the background yells.

"Excuse me?" Tulio gasps.

"Don't mind Octávia," the man responds. "She's just bitter that one of your Spix's macaws must've gotten into the guest bedroom on my boat and got curious enough to steal the only clothes she packed for their short trip to the amazon. Octávia's walking around on my boat wearing a beach towel right now thanks to him."

"Thank you for telling me this development," Tulio says. "I must go tell my wife!"

"Wait, wait…"

But Tulio has hung up before the man can tell them what else he saw, that two of the macaws were strangely wearing fanny packs and the other was trying to use a GPS device.

"Linda!" Tulio cries out as he runs across the bridge to their cottage at the Blu Bird Sanctuary, where his wife had been still mourning Blu. "You won't believe the call I just got!"

Linda sits up from the bed immediately. She hasn't even gotten dressed for her job yet, still wearing her night gown and sporting unkempt hair.

"Blu is alive?!"

Tulio doesn't know how he's going to explain this to her. "It was a boat tour captain in the Amazon. He says he saw the entire flocks of Spix's and Scarlet macaws fleeing from hiding in the storage compartment of his boat just two hours ago, and that they all seemed to be flying this way to Rio De Janeiro!"

"Maybe Blu is among them!" Linda says excitedly. "We must go greet all the birds before they arrive here!"

Linda grabs up her travel clothes and is trying to get her nightgown off before she's even reached the restroom. Tulio hasn't seen Linda this excited about anything ever since they received the horrible news that a fire had destroyed the Amazon basin and Blu was among the potentially deceased birds. But they might just see him again after all.

"Okay I'm ready Tulio!"

Linda rushes out of the bathroom now dressed like a traveler but her shirt's not adjusted properly and the bra strap on her right shoulder is visible. To avoid sounding rude, Tulio makes it known to his wife just by pointing to his shoulder. Linda adjusts her shirt then says with a laugh, "Alright now I'm ready to see my dear Blu again!"

"But who will take care of all the birds while we are gone?" Tulio wonders.

"Dr. Monáe and I will fill in for you guys until you get back," someone says. Linda and Tulio turn to the door of their cottage to see that it is Fernando standing to Dr. Monáe's right.

* * *

Within the hour, Linda and Tulio are in a classic Brazilian Canoe heading down river. It may take them a while to reach where the boat captain reported last seeing the two flocks of macaws, but maybe they'll be fortunate and meet the birds on their apparent migration to Rio De Janeiro.

"Do you see them yet, Tulio?" Linda asks, almost desperately.

Tulio doesn't answer; Linda has failed to realize her husband has headphones on to listen for any bird calls, even the most distant ones.

"Huh?" Linda turns around and realizes why her husband did not answer. She moves across the canoe to where he is and removes one head phone. "Do you see any macaws yet, Tulio?"

"Nothing," Tulio answers her miserably. "Not even any macaw calls are coming through on my headphones." He pauses. "Maybe I need to replace this satellite dish…"

"I doubt there's anything wrong with your equipment," Linda sighs. "It's all brand new and built for use in this kind of environment. I just don't think any of the macaws are here."

"Or maybe they are," Tulio begins slowly, "but they're just being quiet. Look to the trees! We're being watched."

Sure enough, Linda sees a single Scarlet macaw watching them from the trees. But what she and Tulio do know is that the Scarlet macaw is actually not alone; just out of the humans sight behind the foliage are the the rest of the Spix's and Scarlet macaws, including Jewel and her kids.

"That's Linda and Tulio!" Jewel gasps. "What are they doing here?"

"They must have been looking for us, Mum," Bia says.

"Then let's give them what they came here for."

Ignoring her father's warnings, Jewel flies out in plain view of Linda and Tulio, both of whom cannot believe their eyes. But their joy quickly goes away when they see only Bia, Carla, and Tiago following her, but not Blu.

"Jewel! Jewel!" Linda cries out.

The macaw mother and her kids land on the edge of the boat.

"Is Blu with them?"

A sad look that Linda and Tulio cannot mistake comes over Jewel and the young macaws' faces. They take note of the tears running down all four macaws' faces before Jewel casts a sad glance into the Amazon.

"No…" Linda sobs, and subsequently buries her face in Tulio's shirt. "My poor Blu…I knew it was wrong all along to leave them to live in the wild like this…" She pauses to scream in anguish. "Now we'll never see him again…and Jewel has to raise their kids without their dad…"

One or two at a time, the other macaws appear from their hiding spots in the trees. However, they all remain silent and only watch, sensing the amount of sadness these two humans are also facing.

Jewel walks closer to Linda and Jewel, while Bia, Carla, and Tiago hang back, making a low, sad chirping sound.

Linda puts her glasses back on. "What are you all doing here?" she asks weakly.

Jewel unzips the fanny pack with her beak, fiddles around inside it with her right foot, then pulls out a pen and piece of torn paper. Having learned to do so from Blu months ago, Jewel starts using the pen to write something on the paper as if she'd been doing it her entire life. She clicks on the pen when she's finished and turns the piece of paper around so Linda and Tulio can read it.

"Remarkable!" Tulio exclaims. "She learned to write just like her mate!"

The brief note reads:

 _We are all flying to Rio de Janeiro._

 _There is nothing left for any of us back in the Amazon._

"How on Earth did you know to fly this way?"

Jewel responds by revealing the GPS device in the fanny pack.

"She really is as smart as we are!" Tulio exclaims for a second time. "She knows how to write and use a GPS!"

"What's he so excited about?" one of the Scarlet macaw females whispers.

"I don't know," another answers her. "But I think we best stay away from that one."

"Agreed," says a third. "He seems a little…eccentric. Even for a human."

* * *

Nigel cracks one eye open in annoyance.

 _Ugh,_ he thinks. _Now what is going on?_ "Can't a cockatoo get some sleep?!" Nigel bellows. Everything becomes silent. "That's more…" The door swings open and it is neither Dr. Monáe nor Frenado but a man in his late fifties with long hair and a beard that is graying. "…like it?"

"So he is here," the man says.

"And who the hell are you?" Nigel spits.

"The cockatoo that used to be a star," he continues, ignoring Nigel's threatening screeches. "I've come to take you away from this place. I heard you were here, and about your involvement in a bird smuggling attempt, and thought I could use your intelligence." He pauses but only for a second. "I am Emilio. My brother went missing in the Amazon where he was involved in an illegal logging operation. I intend to finish his work but I need to find out what happened to my brother, too." He pauses again. "And chop down every tree I can before we are discovered."

Nigel thinks on it, tapping a talon on his perch. "I think I can help you," he finally says.

"I can help too!" Gabi interrupts.

"He was talking to me specifically!" Nigel screeches, his neck feathers standing up threateningly.

Gabi backs off. "Right. Sorry!"

"So there's a poison dart frog here, too. She may also be useful," Emilio whispers to himself.

"But I'm not poisonous!" Gabi protests with a hurt look on her face. "Bia said so!"

But Emilio only hears croaking sounds coming from the pink tree frog's lips so he ignores her.

"Shoot!" Gabi groans. "I forgot, we can understand them but they can't understand us."

"Ignorant frog," Nigel mutters under his breath, shaking his head with a wing pressed against his forehead. Then he looks back to Emilio. "It's time to chop some trees and ruin some more bird lives!" he says, before laughing maniacally.


	5. Chapter 4: Memories of the Fire

**Chapter 4:  
Memories of the Fire**

"Jewel!" Graça calls out as she still flies beside Carlinhos. "The young'uns, they cannot keep flying like this!"

"She's right," Carlinhos picks up. "We need to rest somewhere for tonight. It's not like being late to arriving in this 'Rio' will kill anyone."

The memories of the fire still fresh in her and of course Jewel's minds, Graça shoots a look at Carlinhos as if to tell him 'Did you really have to say 'kill' after what happened?'. Thankfully, Jewel does not seem to be bothered by it at least, so she says nothing to scold Carlinhos now.

Graça shudders when Felipe happens to fly by them with a female Scarlet macaw whom she does not recognize.

"I'm tired Mom!" Bia whines.

"Can't we just stop here for tonight?" Carla adds.

Jewel panics. "Wait, where's your brother?"

"Oh, he's off trying to impress some Scarlet macaw chicas our age," Carla says with her usual sarcastic bite.

Bia just rolls her eyes. "Ele acha que ele é um Romeu," she sighs in Portuguese, then switches back to speaking English. "But he's not gonna get any girls with his terrible pick up lines."

"What?" Carla asks.

"He thinks he's a Romeo," Bia repeats in English.

"Hello girls," Tiago purrs. "Tiago's on his way."

"Oh no," Bia says, turning her head to where her brother seemed to fly into view from nowhere.

"Oh here we go," Carla adds. "Time to ignore the little brother how I always do."

Carla removes the headphones from her iPod and rap rock begins blaring from its speakers after she turns the volume up as high as it will go:

 _THROW IT ALL AWAY! THROW IT ALL AWAY!_

 _I keep on screaming, but there's really nothing left to say_

 _SO GET AWAY, JUST GET AWAY!_

 _I keep on fighting, but I can't keep going on this way_

 _I can't keep going, can't keep going on like this_

 _They make me sick and I get so sick of it_

' _Cause they won't let me, they won't let me breathe_

 _Why can't they let me be?_

 _Why can't they let me be?_

 _Why don't I know what I am?_

 _I force this hate into my heart 'cause it's my only friend_

 _My lips are sewn shut, I watch myself bleed_

 _They push and pull me and it's killing me within_

Jewel tries to ignore her, the music and its dark lyrics, knowing it's always what Carla always does to try and ignore Tiago, and she can't really blame her for that, but then these words reach Jewel's ears a minute later:

 _My heartbeat stumbles and my backbone crumbles_

 _I feel, is it real as the lynch mob doubles?_

 _They want blood and they'll kill for it_

 _Drain me and they'll kneel for it_

 _Burned me at the stake, met the devil, made the deal for it_

 _Guillotine dreams, yeah their guillotine gleams_

 _The blood of their enemies watching while they sentence me_

 _Sentencing ceased, sentence deceased_

 _And watch 'em bask in the glory of their holy disease_

"Carla Gunderson!" Jewel bellows and her feathers puff up in fury like nothing her fellow macaws, especially her children, have seen before. "I have told you before about blaring that kind of music! Turn that off right now!"

"How am I gonna ignore Tiago then?"

"You can blare your music all you want but I will not listen to that nonsense!"

"Fine!" Carla groans and puts on her headphones to listen to one of her favorites, "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne.

Tiago had stopped a few feet away to listen when he heard their mother scolding Carla over something but he's since flown on to catch up with the Scarlet macaw girls he saw a few minutes ago.

 _Carla and her trash music_ , Tiago thinks, and rolls his eyes at her. _Ah well. Back to the girls. Now where was I? Oh right._

"Oh, hello girls," Tiago purrs again. "Tiago's on his way now."

Some of the Scarlet macaw girls hear him this time.

They answer Tiago in this way: "Oh, hello!"

But one of them called Raquel is more doubtful of this male. Why he is suddenly so interested in them when he never was before over the months since the Spix's and Scarlet macaw tribes ended their hostility towards each other?

"What's he think he is?" she whispers to her friends. "Some kind of chica magnet or somethin'? Or is he just tryin' to be like Graça and look behind his kind of macaw?"

"Oh, give him a chance Raquel," a second whose name is Porta sighs. "I think he's kinda cute," she adds.

"I'm with Sis on this one," the third, named Ofélia, agrees. "'Kinda cute' though? I think he's hot!"

Ofélia starts rapidly fanning herself with a wing after perching on a branch.

Before he even sees them coming, Tiago suddenly finds himself being swarmed by Porta, Ofélia, and at least four other Scarlet macaws about his age before he flies much farther, them all asking him what his name is and if he's available.

Raquel, on the other hand, is not any more interested in Tiago than she was, and she flies off to find some of her other friends to play with since these girls are too focused on a boy now.

"Woah, woah," Tiago laughs. "One at a time. I'm one Macaw."

"He's mine!" Ofélia says.

"No!" Porta shoves her out of the way. "Tiago's mine!"

Yet another called Clarissa shoves them both out of the way. "Whatcha talkin' about? The oldest always gets the boy!"

"You must mean oldest and heaviest then!" Ofélia counters.

Suddenly, Tiago gulps. _What have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

"Come on Felipe," the female macaw presses. "You are never this quiet. What on earth is wrong?" When he says nothing, she desperately adds in Portuguese: "Digame por favor!"

"Bem," Felipe answers in their native language. "Mas só porque você é meu amigo mais velho." He pauses to switch to English. "I cannot stop thinking about what happened to Blu in the fire. When I try and sleep at night, I have terrible flashbacks to that day and seeing Blu vanish in the flames just to save me…"

"But why are you telling me this now?" Leonor questions him.

Felipe does not respond, instead only looking down at his perched talons.

"Não mais dessa besteira, Felipe!" Leonor screeches. "Sair dessa!"

Felipe feels the sudden sting of Leonor's wing against his face and spiteful glares at her. "You are lucky I don't knock you off your perch for that. But you are my friend, so I will not. Any other fêmea and they'd be on the ground by now."

"You know I'd kick your bunda if you tried to knock me over," Leonor laughs. But then she realizes Felipe is being serious and her smile fades.

Felipe sighs. "I'm sorry," he says. "I've just had so much on my mind and as little sleep. I would never lay a feather on you, Leonor." He pauses. "Amigos para sempre. That's what you and I promised each other when we were fledglings."

"Amigos para sempre," Leonor repeats. "Yes, I have never forgotten either." She pauses. "So what exactly happened to Blu in the fire?" she asks. "Sometimes talking about things is the only way to move on."

"You are right." Felipe pauses. "The truth is…I panicked during that fire and Blu had to save me. But then he flew right into a wall of flames…I don't know what happened to him after that. I heard no screams. It was just nothing but the roar of flames." He stops, noticing how Leonor is staring beyond him. "What is it?" he asks, only for her to point past him with her wing.

Felipe turns around to see none other than _Jewel_ perched a few branches away, but still close enough to have probably heard him.

"You heard all of that, I imagine," Felipe whispers.

"Yes," Jewel says softly. But, much to Felipe and Leonor's surprise, she is not in tears.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make myself tell you what happened sooner." Felipe flies over to Jewel alone. "I should have. It's your husband which my cowardice that day took from you."

"I do not blame you, Felipe," Jewel finally says after a minute of thinking. Jewel knows she's going to kick herself for what she's about to say, even if it's true. "We can't control what nature does. I realize now that I would be wrong to pass the blame for what happened to Blu onto anybody." Now is when she begins to shed tears. "All my family can try to do now is remember all the good times we shared with Blu…" She sniffs. "…and try to move on in time."

"Não!" Leonor unpredictably shouts.

"Leonor, it's time I tell somebody else," Felipe argues. "Jewel. I have never told anybody other than Leonor this but I have been through what you have, when Leonor and I were no older than your children are now. It is why I panicked and your husband had to sacrifice his life for mine. I watched both my parents perish in flames set by the loggers our two tribes fought off months ago. They told me to fly, to abandon our nest in the trees, but they were unable to escape before…" He stops and begins to cry, but Felipe soon presses on regardless. "…the fire spread to our tree collapsed and they were burned up with it…" Felipe gasps heavily. "I have not gone without the occasional nightmare since that horrible day…Leonor has been my only true companion up until your tribe and mine worked together to drive off those damn murderers. That feels like it will be the most closure I'll ever have for my parents…"

* * *

 **Author's note:** This is a short chapter compared to the earlier ones, I know but I felt this was all I needed to do this time. Though I meant to post this last week (and earlier this week) but I was pretty busy.

If anyone wants translations of the Portuguese dialogue in this chapter, let me know in a review and I'll send them in a reply to your review.


	6. Chapter 5: Talking to the Moon

**Chapter 5:  
Talking to the Moon**

"My brother disappeared out here in these jungles," Emilio explains to Nigel and Gabi. "He was part of an illegal logging business and the only logger who was never seen again."

 _Hmm._ Then it hits Nigel. He recalls back to several weeks back in the Amazon when he had knocked down a man in his fifties who was trying to stop Blu from preventing dynamite from destroying the jungle further. The last time Nigel remembers seeing that man, he was staring down the gullet of a rather pissed off anaconda whose sleep he had disturbed, offering it a lollipop as if they would have done anything to appease the snake. _That's my fault, but your brother deserved it,_ he darkly thinks. _Nobody gets in the way of my revenge._

"That is where you come in," Emilio continues. "I have gathered together everybody who worked for my brother. Not only are we going to continue my brother's _illegal_ business, I am employing you to help in our search for my brother."

 _Well, you'll all be sorely disappointed when you learn your brother's been digested in an anaconda's stomach and we find his bones out in the Amazon_ , Nigel thinks. _But I'll help them. It means I'll get to finish what I started, and eliminate Jewel and her kids. All you loggers will just be a tool of seeking my vengeance. And when that's all said and done, I'll make sure evidence of your 'business' makes it to the mailbox of the police in Rio just for good measure. Humans are the worst thing about this planet. All they do is destroy and steal what belongs to us birds for their own personal gain and their entertainment._

Emilio picks up his cellphone from the dashboard of his jeep, dials a number, and is soon speaking with the foreman of his brother's logging company, in Portuguese.

"Descobri que a cacatua que vimos na notícia no mês passado. Estamos a caminho da Amazônia; estaremos lá até esta tarde. Em primeiro lugar, vou parar na loja de armas. Estaremos preparados para qualquer intruso desta vez."

"What on Earth's he saying, Gabi?" Nigel asks the tree frog. "You're more fluent in Portuguese than I am."

"I don't know if I like where this is going now," she answers.

"Just spit it out!" the Cockatoo screeches, his head feathers angrily sticking up.

"Fine, fine!" Gabi says. "He said, 'I've found that cockatoo we saw on the news last month. We're on our way to the Amazon; we'll be there by this afternoon. I'll be making a stop at the gun store first. We will be prepared for any intruders this time'."

 _Maybe she's good for something after all,_ Nigel thinks. _So these loggers will be armed with guns. Oh, that's perfect. My plan of eliminate Jewel and her children just became so much simpler. If Blu somehow survived the jungle fire, he will return to a tragedy that will make him wish he'd not escaped._

It is all Nigel can do not to let out his trademark sadistic laughter; Gabi would immediately be curious as to what he is planning. He does not want that damn tree frog getting involved with his plans as much as he can have any say in the matter. More than just ridding this world of Jewel, Bia, Carla, and Tiago, he wants to eliminate Gabi from his life even if that means leading the frog to her death with Jewel and her children. Nigel wishes she had abandoned him with Charlie, that anteater who had proven a poor choice of help many times. But at least Charlie had never been a thorn in his side, Nigel thinks.

"GAH!" Nigel screeches when the jeep suddenly takes off; he had been so deep his his thoughts that the jeep's sudden movements sent him falling off the seat and crashing to the floor. As Gabi hops down to see if Nigel is alright, he groans in pain. "Give a warning next time, human!" he spits. "Are you trying to kill me!" Then he looks at Gabi, who is crawling all over him and asking if he's alright. "Ugh! Get off me you pest!"

* * *

A hundred miles to the south of this chain of events, the other macaws of both tribes are unaware of the danger Jewel and her children will be facing should Nigel and the illegal loggers he has hooked up with find them.

"1,800 miles to Rio de Janeiro," the GPS says.

"Thanks for reminding us GPS lady…" Jewel says with bitter sarcasm.

"'Demanding GPS lady' does not compute. Are you sure that is correct?"

"Tecnologia de foda…" Jewel curses in her native tongue.

"What did she say?" Carla and Tiago ask.

"Believe me, it is best you don't understand," Bia says. She cannot believe her mother would curse so severely.

Jewel shoves the GPS back into the fanny pack. "That's enough of this thing," she sighs. "I thought I would give the GPS another chance but that backfired. Natural instinct is the best thing to rely on for traveling." She looks to Bia, Carla, and Tiago. "Don't forget that children!"

 _Huh?_ They all think, staring at one another in slight confusion.

"Juju, we should stop for tonight," Roberto says. "All the children are growing tired fast. We've been flying all day without a break."

Jewel doesn't respond. She knows he's right, but Jewel is suddenly in one of her phases where she is thinking about all the good times with Blu before his death happened, while dealing with his death at the same time; feeling her tears flowing down her feathery cheeks, she does not stop flying until she lands at the highest branch of the closest tree.

"We'll sleep here for tonight!" Jewel calls down to her fellow macaws, who began flocking into the tree, each individual trying to find the most comfortable perch before another macaw claims it for the night.

"Wait here," Bia whispers to her siblings. She flies over to their mother.

"Mom…?"

"Oh, Bia," Jewel says, alarmed. "I didn't hear you fly up behind me."

Bia does not speak as she perches beside her mother, whom she is looking more and more like with every day she ages, and places a wing just above her rear (since Bia still only stands just above than her mother's lower breast line).

A minute of silence passes before Bia is sure of what she wants to say.

"I'll perch with you tonight, Mum," she says.

"What about Carla and Tiago?"

"Tiago's found himself a girl," Bia says, much to Jewel's disbelief. Why hadn't he told her himself? "Ofélia."

"Ofélia?"

"She's one of the Scarlet macaws our age."

Jewel wipes away a tear, but at least it's one of happiness for once. "I just wish Tiago had told me he's found himself a girl," she chuckles softly. "Oh, my boy…he's growing up so fast. I should introduce myself to Ofélia."

"Mom…"

"Huh?" Jewel stops in her flight and lands.

"I would wait until Tiago is ready to introduce Ofélia to us," Bia says. "Knowing my little brother, he wants to wait until he knows his relationship with Ofélia works out."

Jewel smiles. "I understand," she says. "Now come, Bia, let's get some sleep."

Bia perches comfortably against her mother's side. Jewel, however, remains awake in spite of telling her daughter they need to sleep. She stares up at the crescent moon.

* * *

"You're still awake Roberto?" Autumn asks, looking at him with one eye cracked open.

"I can't sleep," Roberto sighs.

Autumn moves closer to Roberto. "Want to talk about it?"

"There isn't all that much to talk about. It's just…I can't stop feeling bad for Jewel. She has to raise Bia, Carla, and Tiago without their father."

"But she has you. You've been her friend longer than anyone."

"That isn't the same. I'm not the one Jewel brought them into the world with. I could never replace their father."

"There's something else bothering you, isn't there Beto?" Autumn asks. "This is the first time you've been quiet on this whole flight since we left the jungle."

"You can say that," Roberto sighs. "It's not so much something is bothering me but a memory. You may remember, when we were Bia, Carla, and Tiago's age, a fire drove us out of her old home. Jewel's mother died and everyone feared Jewel did not live either…"

Roberto closes his eyes as he remembers that night after the fire destroyed their old home several years ago.

Roberto remembers landing on the highest point of a tree canopy after Jewel vanished. The other macaws have spent days looking for her, Jewel, one of his few friends who has not been seen since humans started a fire that destroyed their entire jungle home. Jewel's mother did not escape the inferno and to make matters worse, Jewel herself had not been found yet. Eduardo is a complete mess, as is Roberto.

The young macaw begins to call out sadly as his only other friend, a female macaw named Autumn for the season she was born in, perches nearby. Autumn stops there when she hears Roberto's heart wrenching voice carrying on the wind. She has to wipe tears away but remains silent; she does not want Roberto to know she's there until the time is right.

 _I know you're somewhere out there,_

 _Somewhere far away_

 _I want you back, I want you back_

 _My neighbors think I'm crazy,_

 _But they don't understand_

 _You're all I had, you're all I had_

 _At night when the stars light up my room_

 _I sit by myself talking to the moon, trying to get to you_

 _In hopes you're on the other side, talking to me too!_

 _Or am I a fool who sits alone talking to the moon?_

 _I'm feeling like I'm famous, the talk of the town_

 _They say I've gone mad, yeah, I've gone mad_

 _But they don't know what I know_

' _Cause when the sun goes down, someone's talking back_

 _Yeah, she's talking back_

Roberto imagines the nearest cloud as a silhouette of Jewel, prompting tears to form in his eyes. He is shocked to feel Autumn embrace him with her wing; he hadn't know she'd seen him fly up here and followed him.

 _At night when the stars light up my room_

 _I sit by myself talking to the moon, trying to get to you_

 _In hopes you're on the other side, talking to me too!_

 _Or am I a fool who sits alone talking to the moon?_

 _Do you hear me calling, Jewel?_

' _Cause every night I'm talking to the moon!_

 _Still trying to get to you_

 _In hopes you're on the other side, talking to me too!_

 _Or am I a fool who sits alone talking to the moon?_

 _I know you're somewhere out there_

 _Somewhere far away..._

* * *

The scene changes to Jewel, hearing something on the winds that blow the fire further downwind. She chokes on the smoke as she crawls towards the sound, trying to scream a reply. Her words never escape her beak, but she recognizes the voice she can hear and the song that it sings.

 _I crawl by myself talking to the moon, trying to get to you_

 _In hopes you're on the other side, talking to me too!_

 _Or am I a fool who crawls alone, talking to the moon?_

 _Do you hear me calling, Roberto?_

 _Or am I just talking to the moon?_

It will be a whole day, before she finally makes it back to where Roberto's voice had been emanating from, but she will see no one other than her own reflection in the tainted waters as the rainstorm fills the ground.

* * *

 **Author's note:** This chapter took me a while to get done. Between writer's block and being busy for a while, I never really had time to wrap this chapter up. Then at the middle of last week, my mother passed away, and I didn't even care about writing period until Saturday whether I was busy or not. mikey1393drago helped with the proofreading of this as usual, in addition to helping wrap up the flashback sequence. The final moment with Jewel in the flashback was entirely written by him.

On a side note, I chose the song "Talking To the Moon" before my other's passing after I heard it on the radio at work, then learned it's actually sang by Roberto's voice actor. So I thought that would just make it all the more fitting. I did however, make some minor changes of the lyrics to fit the situation, as did Mikey in the final moments of the flashback.

I'm feeling a little better than I was about my mother's passing so I'll try to update this and my two Dragonheart fanfictions from time to time when I'm not busy, or feel like writing. And as usual, if anyone wants translations of the Portuguese dialogue, I'll send it over in a reply to reviews for anyone who asks.


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